Evaluating the Performance of PRISMA Shortwave Infrared Imaging Sensor for Mapping Hydrothermally Altered and Weathered Minerals Using the Machine Learning Paradigm

Abstract

Satellite images provide consistent and frequent information that can be used to estimate mineral resources over a large spatial extent. Advances in spaceborne hyperspectral remote sensing (HRS) and machine learning can help to support various remote-sensing-based applications, including mineral exploration. Leveraging these advances, the present study evaluates recently launched PRISMA spaceborne satellite images to map hydrothermally altered and weathered minerals using various machine-learning-based classification algorithms. The study was performed for the town of Jahazpur in Rajasthan, India (75°06′23.17″E, 25°25′23.37″N). The distribution map for minerals such as kaolinite, talc, and montmorillonite was generated using the spectral angle mapper technique. The resultant mineral distribution map was verified through an intensive field validation survey on surface exposures of the minerals. Furthermore, the obtained pixels of the end-members were used to develop the machine-learning-based classification models. Measures such as accuracy, kappa coefficient, F1 score, precision, recall, and ROC curve were employed to evaluate the performance of developed models. The results show that the stochastic gradient descent and artificial-neural-network-based multilayer perceptron classifiers were more accurate than other algorithms. Results confirm that the PRISMA dataset has enormous potential for mineral mapping in mountainous regions utilizing a machine-learning-based classification framework.